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Amy Dowden, who recovered from breast most cancers remedy earlier this yr, has revealed that she lately skilled a well being scare forward of her return to Strictly Come Dancing.
In Might 2023, the Welsh skilled dancer was recognized with an “aggressive” type of stage three breast most cancers discovering a lump in her breast the day earlier than her Maldives honeymoon with fellow skilled dancer Ben Jones. She underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and fertility remedy in these 9 months and was finally advised she had “no proof of illness” in February.
That journey is documented in a brand new movie, Strictly Amy: Most cancers and Me, which follows Dowden from the start of her prognosis as she navigates every stage of her remedy.
Nevertheless, on the finish of the documentary, when Dowden finds out she will probably be nicely sufficient to return to Strictly in September after a yr off from work, she goes to the hospital for a routine MRI scan and receives worrying information from her physician.
In footage recorded solely for the documentary, medical doctors inform Dowden they’ve detected “just a few little dots” within the scan that recommend calcification and a “change occurring within the breast”. Her physician warned her it could possibly be an indication of breast most cancers returning.
Dowden, who took the information in her stride, then underwent a biopsy, and advised the cameras afterwards: “I’m feeling actually anxious and anxious as a result of it clearly introduced again recollections of every thing I went via a yr in the past.”
“However I’ve simply gotta attempt to stay optimistic and never take myself to these worrying locations.”
Within the subsequent clip, Dowden and her husband Ben are given the welcome information that the biopsy confirmed benign modifications – there was no most cancers detected.
“When the advisor advised us there was no proof of illness, it felt surreal,” Dowden exclaimed. “I’m so relieved. It seems like I’m let out.”
In one other clip, Dowden’s mom advised the digicam: “We simply wish to dance and sing and inform everybody about it.”
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Reflecting on the toughest yr of her life, Downden mentioned: “Previously yr, I’ve had a mastectomy, fertility remedy, chemotherapy, sepsis, blood clots, a damaged foot and at last it’s time for me to get again on that dancefloor.”
The dancer, who first joined the solid of Strictly in 2017, was too unwell to compete in final yr’s collection of the present, however would frequently make shock appearances on the present – just like the time she arrived in a shiny robe and browse out the phrases and circumstances for the general public voting.
When Dowden’s title was introduced within the 2024 line-up for Strictly, she celebrated the information and advised her followers that she couldn’t wait to be again doing what she loves essentially the most: dancing.
“My coronary heart is so comfortable,” she wrote. “One of the best crew on and off the dance flooring. Really feel blessed and extra excited than ever. Carry it on!”
Skilled dancer Vito Coppola, who will even dance on this yr’s competitors, wrote on Instagram about how a lot the Strictly solid had “missed” Dowden within the earlier season.
“Stunning Amy we’re so comfortable to have you ever again. Now we have missed you. Be prepared as a result of I’m going to raise you very excessive,” he mentioned. “We love you and I’m certain I can communicate for all us after I say that it was not identical with out you.”
Dowden’s good friend and fellow Strictly professional Diane Buswell mentioned she was “so comfortable” to have the dancer again on the dancefloor the place she “belongs”.
Strictly Amy: Most cancers and Me airs on BBC One on Monday 26 August at 8pm. She is going to seem on this yr’s twentieth anniversary collection of Strictly Come Dancing.
